Third posting of robbery incident...
Zephaniah 3:16-20 New Living Translation
...Cheer up Zion! Don't be afraid! For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears.(He will be silent in His love or He will renew you with his love.) He will rejoice over you with joyful songs. I will gather you who mourn for the appointed festivals; you will be disgraced no more. And I will deal severely with all who have oppressed you. I will save the weak and helpless ones; I will bring together those who were chased away. I will give glory and fame to my former exiles, wherever they have been mocked and shamed. On that day I will gather you together and bring you home again. I will give you a good name, a name of distinction, among all the nations of the earth, as I restore your fortunes before their very eyes. I, the Lord, have spoken!"
It's amazing to me that as I read through the minor prophets that I happen to "stumble" upon these words. It's as if God Himself knew of my predicament and my need and He is there and He is Here right now speaking LIFE over me and my family. Why someone doesn't follow God baffles me.
Friday, December 4, 2009
In the Aftermath
Second posting of our robbery incident...
First of all, many thanks to so many who have reached out to our family in prayers, concern and support. Our Ghanaian and ex pat friends here have reached out in so many caring ways and our friends abroad have made themselves available to help us in any way. So reassuring. We indeed have a great team of family and friends who love and intercede.
Reality sets in like a stone. The whole experience was surreal when it was going on and yet throughout the whole ordeal, there was a supernatural sense of peace of God's presence with us.
Things we have rejoiced over:
Maggie was surrounded by all three of our dogs while the thieves took Claire inside the house
She has no visual memory of strangers in her room.
Luke had a friend with him in his room so he was not alone when we left his room,
(he jumped from his bed to his friend's bed and said, "We need to pray."),
Claire was bold and protective of her kids and made the thieves allow her to go out and check on Maggie,
My phone which was on my waist but covered by my t-shirt rang just as they were asking for it and I was able to slip it off and slide it under the bed...they never saw it or heard it.
It has every phone number, email and address of all of our contacts in the U.S. and in Ghana,
Most especially no foul words were spoken, no harmful act of violence was ever leveled against us.
God was good, God is good and God will be good, no matter what. I have probably struggled the most in the night with memories of retribution but in my heart there is peace and I have no tinge of bitterness towards them. My anger rises up when I see Luke afraid in the night and needing someone to be with him while he is showering or going to sleep and him telling me, "I'll never sleep in my room again." I believe this too will pass.
Maggie and Claire are doing really well and each of us is dealing with this in varying ways...we were glad to have a debrief with a team of counselors who are experts at dealing with this very type of trauma.
We trust in Psalm 91:15 which says, "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him IN TROUBLE. I will take him out of trouble and honor him." We were in trouble but God was with us in it and will continue to be with us.
Thanks for praying
Michael for the Mozleys
First of all, many thanks to so many who have reached out to our family in prayers, concern and support. Our Ghanaian and ex pat friends here have reached out in so many caring ways and our friends abroad have made themselves available to help us in any way. So reassuring. We indeed have a great team of family and friends who love and intercede.
Reality sets in like a stone. The whole experience was surreal when it was going on and yet throughout the whole ordeal, there was a supernatural sense of peace of God's presence with us.
Things we have rejoiced over:
Maggie was surrounded by all three of our dogs while the thieves took Claire inside the house
She has no visual memory of strangers in her room.
Luke had a friend with him in his room so he was not alone when we left his room,
(he jumped from his bed to his friend's bed and said, "We need to pray."),
Claire was bold and protective of her kids and made the thieves allow her to go out and check on Maggie,
My phone which was on my waist but covered by my t-shirt rang just as they were asking for it and I was able to slip it off and slide it under the bed...they never saw it or heard it.
It has every phone number, email and address of all of our contacts in the U.S. and in Ghana,
Most especially no foul words were spoken, no harmful act of violence was ever leveled against us.
God was good, God is good and God will be good, no matter what. I have probably struggled the most in the night with memories of retribution but in my heart there is peace and I have no tinge of bitterness towards them. My anger rises up when I see Luke afraid in the night and needing someone to be with him while he is showering or going to sleep and him telling me, "I'll never sleep in my room again." I believe this too will pass.
Maggie and Claire are doing really well and each of us is dealing with this in varying ways...we were glad to have a debrief with a team of counselors who are experts at dealing with this very type of trauma.
We trust in Psalm 91:15 which says, "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I will be with him IN TROUBLE. I will take him out of trouble and honor him." We were in trouble but God was with us in it and will continue to be with us.
Thanks for praying
Michael for the Mozleys
Joining the ranks of the violated
This is an old note from Facebook but wanted to put it on my blog...
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from the great country of Ghana. Though the image is now slightly tarnished...Robberies happen all over the world and people are violated at different levels in each instance. Thankfully ours was mostly emotional and nothing physical really happened to us...
On Wednesday night five armed robbers pushed through our gate and our night watchman to demand all the money we had on us and in our house, as well as every electronic thing they could put their hands on. Claire and Maggie had just returned from an evening program at Maggie's school and it was 8:30 p.m. When they pulled into the gate, armed robbers folllowed close behind and made their way into our compound. They took Claire and Maggie's phones and dumped their purses on the driveway looking for money then made their way inside to look for me and all of our money. I was in Luke's room about to have prayers with Luke and his spend the night friend Seth. Claire walked in looking frantic and saying, "I need help." Just behind her was a young man not more than 20-25 with a shot gun and another young man holding a machete (cutlass). They ordered us to sit down and then asked where all the money was. We told them to leave our son's room so it wouldn't frighten them. Claire and I showed the two robbers our room and gave them all the money we could find....thankfully it was no more than a couple hundred U.S. dollars and about $600.00 in Ghanaian cedis...then they started picking through all of our belongings taking cameras, every laptop available, four of them and lots of incedentals...watches, earphones, ipods, i-touch that Maggie got for Christmas...the most devastating loss was my laptop and all my PhD work gone...most of which has been backed up but some of it was backed up on another computer, which they also took. After 20 minutes they were gone. At one point I said to one of them, you know I'm a pastor and I love Jesus and He loves you. He said, "Oh I know, I'm a Christian too, He's my savior." I said, My friend you are not a Christian or you wouldn't be doing this to our family.
Maggie was probably the most traumatized because she was left in the front lot of our home while Claire was taken inside being held at gun point.
I'll write more later, but in the mean time, just pray for our family, our memories, and our healing...
Thanks,
Michael for the Mozleys
Dear Family and Friends,
Greetings from the great country of Ghana. Though the image is now slightly tarnished...Robberies happen all over the world and people are violated at different levels in each instance. Thankfully ours was mostly emotional and nothing physical really happened to us...
On Wednesday night five armed robbers pushed through our gate and our night watchman to demand all the money we had on us and in our house, as well as every electronic thing they could put their hands on. Claire and Maggie had just returned from an evening program at Maggie's school and it was 8:30 p.m. When they pulled into the gate, armed robbers folllowed close behind and made their way into our compound. They took Claire and Maggie's phones and dumped their purses on the driveway looking for money then made their way inside to look for me and all of our money. I was in Luke's room about to have prayers with Luke and his spend the night friend Seth. Claire walked in looking frantic and saying, "I need help." Just behind her was a young man not more than 20-25 with a shot gun and another young man holding a machete (cutlass). They ordered us to sit down and then asked where all the money was. We told them to leave our son's room so it wouldn't frighten them. Claire and I showed the two robbers our room and gave them all the money we could find....thankfully it was no more than a couple hundred U.S. dollars and about $600.00 in Ghanaian cedis...then they started picking through all of our belongings taking cameras, every laptop available, four of them and lots of incedentals...watches, earphones, ipods, i-touch that Maggie got for Christmas...the most devastating loss was my laptop and all my PhD work gone...most of which has been backed up but some of it was backed up on another computer, which they also took. After 20 minutes they were gone. At one point I said to one of them, you know I'm a pastor and I love Jesus and He loves you. He said, "Oh I know, I'm a Christian too, He's my savior." I said, My friend you are not a Christian or you wouldn't be doing this to our family.
Maggie was probably the most traumatized because she was left in the front lot of our home while Claire was taken inside being held at gun point.
I'll write more later, but in the mean time, just pray for our family, our memories, and our healing...
Thanks,
Michael for the Mozleys
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